anger in iran over its fuel prices prompting fears of inflation. that i missed says al jazeera live from doha also coming up. i have the right to speak your freedom of speech just as other people do donald trump rejects accusations he tried to intimidate a witness while she testified at his impeachment inquiry. and tight security in sri lanka as the country votes in

a tense presidential poll plus. i'm florence. village judge young province china where thousands of villages like this one here have benefited from a boom in online shopping. now iranians have protested in a number of cities off to the government increase the cost of fuel by at least 50 percent internet access has now been limited in some regions the price hike prompted fears of rising inflation despite tehran promising the revenue will go towards families in need in a moment we'll go live to tehran but fast shot at us has this report on mobile phone video out of wisden iran shows people chanting fuel prices go higher the poor get poorer. the image repeats in the northern city of machine the words dictation let go of our country. and near the border with the rock they repeat turn your car

off while blocking traffic. as since it fell across iran protests grew against a rise in petrol prices and fuel rationing. the government introduced the hikes on friday saying it was to help pay for subsidies for 18000000 families in the. back side is that the 1st payments will be handled within the next week or 10 days and transferred to the families in model year a strong president believes that if there is going to be petrol price reform all of the new revenues will be paid back in full to the people but for many it was a shock motorists must now pay about $13.00 seems police or it's a 30 percent jump they're allowed 60 liters of fuel per month anything over that they pay double for the national i hadn't heard the news i came here and filled $3.00 places and then i noticed the price was $90000.00 rails then i asked and they

said the price is now $30000.00 reales per liter mosher a sphere the consequences will be far reaching. in tehran and the rest of iraq everything is dependent on fuel prices if the price of fuel goes up in the night by day the price of rent will go up as well as other living expenses including fruit and vegetables it affects everything which is very bad i really believe that it will paralyze a classless society especially laboring class the fuel price hike in rationing stems from multiple issues around his huge energy reserves but a limited refining capacity to get it to the pump the government is fighting fuel smuggling to its neighbors iran has some of the cheapest prices in the world today heavy subsidies and the full of its currency the economy has been in freefall since u.s. president donald trump would out of the iran nuclear deal last year. why did they make this decision because they don't have money left we are under sanctions they want to take the money out of the people's pockets they have

a budget deficit they have to take it from my in your pockets to be able to run the country. president obama didn't implemented fuel rationing in 2007 in an effort to curb consumption iranians resisted and this time it's no different shown that dallas 00. well for more on this let's go live now to dosage of ari who's in tehran for us those are we expecting more protests today well we've seen small gatherings of people across the country already this morning and it is likely to continue because this price increase isn't just about a price increase it's about so much more just to give you an idea what has happened in the span of just 24 hours when the iranians went to bed thursday evening they will cop to a news that as of that friday the government announcing that the fuel prices had gone up about 200 percent now an average iranian makes about 200 dollars 200 u.s.

dollars a month prior to this increase they were filling up gas of tank that was going to that would have cost them about $4.00 now that same gas tank will cost them around $10.00 what is worrying to ordinary iranians is not just the price of fuel but the repercussions that this will have across the board meaning other goods will also be and the prices will increase and it's an environment that is already very very fragile right now their country's economy because inflation's is that just over 40 percent so many are very worried that this is just a sign of further things to come while amid all this unrest are already getting these reports of internet restrictions talk us through how the government's been responding. well the government has been defending the decision they've made but what's important to note is that this is not just of the system that was made by the government this was a decision that was made by

a special executive body that was created 2 years ago by the supreme leader in his office that consists of the head of the parliament i larijani the president hassan rouhani as well as the head of the judiciary ibrahim raissi and this executive branch is in charge of dealing with the country's economy and light of u.s. sanctions and international sanctions and this decision was made by that executive branch what has happened now is that the representatives from these different bodies mean the president of the government they're trying to defend this the system saying this was made to actually help $16000000.00 iranians get further subsidies of about 5 u.s. dollars a month in the weeks ahead and it's something that is not going over very well. are saying that the subsidies are going to get out of this increase is not actually worth what this is going to do to the country's economy so it's something we'll be watching very closely thank you for that update dosage of ari and tara.

now u.s. president donald trump has been accused of intimidation after he attacked a witness on twitter while she testified at his impeachment hearing maria bout of it the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine was removed from her post earlier this year there is how does your caster has more from capitol hill. president trump has said he too busy to watch the impeachment inquiry hearings threatening to end his presidency but he found time friday to catch some of the hearing unfolding on live t.v. and he tweeted about the witness on the stand his former ambassador to ukraine a woman he ousted from the post as we sit here testifying the president is attacking twitter. and i'd like to give you a chance to respond. part of one of those tweets everywhere marie of on average when turned bad but would you like to respond to the president's attack that

everywhere you went turned bad i mean i can't speak to what the president is trying to do but i think the effect is to be intimidating you've on of it is a career diplomat who served more than 30 years under presidents of both parties in a july phone call the basis for the current impeachment inquiry trump told the president of ukraine she was quote bad news and would go through some things it was it was a terrible moment a person who saw me actually reading the transcript said that the color drained from my face i think i even had a physical reaction it didn't sound good sounded like. a threat democrats say trump's attacks on you of on a bitch amounts to witness intimidation and possibly an additional impeachment charge against the president trump defended his mid hearing tweet saying he had no intention to intimidate i have the right to speak i have freedom of speech just as other people do but they've taken away the republican's rights given of each

testified she was recalled from ukraine without cause in may she'd been drunk fully accused of undermining trump she said and was the target of a smear campaign conspired between trump's private attorney rudy giuliani and corrupt ukrainian officials or continues to amaze me is that they found americans willing to partner with them and working together they apparently succeeded in orchestrating the removal of a us ambassador you gonna bitch says she still doesn't know why she was ordered home on the next plane she was gone by the time the white house pros security aid to ukraine and trump pressed the ukrainian president to announce investigations into his political rivals republicans say democrats have been unable to directly tie trump to an impeachable offense. problem of trying to overthrow a president based on this type of evidence is obvious but that's what their whole

case relies on beginning with 2nd and 3rd hand information but now complicating the president's defense is this new evidence of possible witness intimidation in the form of trump's tweet that materialize before the public's very odd ways democrats have tried to build up a review of on a bridge as unsympathetic witness and now trump himself may have helped them make that case while putting his own presidency in greater jeopardy joe castro al-jazeera washington and now a u.s. embassy official in new crane has confirmed to impeachment investigators that he overheard donald trump ask if you cranes president had agreed to conduct investigations into his political rivals david holmes was speaking to a closed door hearing on friday about a phone call that he was present for between the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. gordon sunderland that call took place a day to try personally pressed president selenski to investigate his rival joe

biden and his son. and a former advisor to trump has now been found guilty of 7 charges including lying to congress and witness tampering roger stone was charged earlier this year during the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election he's been found guilty of lying to congress about his contacts with wiki leaks during the campaign and his efforts to push one of his associates to then back up his lies he'll be sentenced in february and faces up to 50 is in jail. israel says it's carried out airstrikes targeting hamas in response to rockets fired from gaza 2 rockets struck the israeli city of beersheba in the south overnight hamas has kept some distance from the recent exchanges of fire between israel and the palestinian group islamic jihad $34.00 palestinians were killed in the violence the worst boarder cross border fighting in months or a force that has more from gaza. well so far no claim of responsibility for this

latest round of rocket fire coming out of gaza 2 rockets fired in the early hours of this morning towards the israeli town of besharam and they were intercepted by the israeli anti missile iron dome system but seems little doubt that israel blames those rockets on hamas because in the israeli airstrikes that followed a few hours later israel says it was targeting hamas sites here inside gaza now that is a shift from what's been taking place up until now in this latest escalation israel has been characterizing this as a fight against islamic jihad since of course it began this round with the assassination of a senior islamic jihad commander in the early hours of tuesday morning someone that israel blames for being behind a round of rocket a series of rocket attacks in recent months as in to be a strategy at play to try to separate out islamic jihad from hamas hamas while saying that it was very much with islamic jihad in the battle and refrained from firing rockets itself so this seems to be

a real distinction being drawn both by israel and in terms of the actions here inside gaza between hamas and islamic jihad bed being some anger at that especially given the number of civilian casualties that we've seen here inside gaza there was a protest on friday night in the jabalya refugee camp with people on the streets demanding that hamas act in a military manner as well as a rhetorical manner in support of islamic jihad and in response to the israeli airstrikes so there have been several starters to this cease fire so far since it came into place on thursday morning we'll see how the situation plays out from here on the weather as an expert still wrong. if anybody i know has a 30 minute leafy on i was just only here gaffe by the police on purpose this is what counts tension on the streets of bolivia despite a change of leadership and al jazeera john last has course up in the anthrax.

hello again it's good to have you back we're here across parts of the philippines we are watching the approach of a tropical storm right now we do expect to see the storm system make landfall in the zone probably on monday with some very heavy rain across much of the area it's not going to cause too much in terms of wind damage because just really talking about tropical storm intensity but still we could be seen quite a few swells along the eastern coast of luzon in terms of the rain no expect to see well over $250.00 millimeters of rain as we go to the next 72 hours so localized flooding is going to be a big issue for many down towards malaysia indonesia expect to see some very heavy rain as well coaching a rainy day for you with a temperature of 30 degrees there well the fire danger is still quite critical here

across much of queensland as well as new south wales temperatures over the next few days are expected to go up we do have a frontal boundary that will be slowly making its way towards the tasman sea but ahead of that front up to the north it is still quite warm temps wise though as i said city at $22.00 degrees here melbourne at 17 but as we go towards monday we are going to see a surge of temperatures across the region actually melbourne going for about 17 degrees up to 27 degrees there so very dry conditions a lot of sun across much of the area but for brits been expect to see some clouds with a temperature of 28 degrees. sponsors can't own. stories generate. these protests are saying down with the system and down with all of the parts with different angles from different perspectives just because we came to prison gays in the right stopped at the gate separate the spin from the facts. jumps on stories we don't take the misinformation from it's about telling the

stories or those. with the listening post on al-jazeera. and again. a reminder of our top stories this hour there been protests in iran after the government hiked fuel prices 50 percent internet access has been limited now in some regions iran has some of the world's cheapest petrol prices because of heavy subsidies. president donald trump has been accused of intimidation after he attacked a witness on twitter as she testified at his impeachment hearing about of it she

was removed from her post as u.s. ambassador to ukraine and may. and israel has carried out air strikes targeting a must in response to a rocket attack from gaza 2 rockets were fired towards the southern israeli city of beersheba overnight. now a gunman and sri lanka have attacked buses carrying muslim voters but no casualties have been reported it happened shortly after polls opened in the country's presidential election ethnic tensions have been high since the easter bombings of this year that killed hundreds former defense minister got in by rajapaksa premadasa who is also a minister. the 2 main candidates enough and as has more from colombia there are almost 13000 polling stations like the one you see behind me where sri lankans are casting their vote to choose their next president here a blown up version of the ballot paper as you can see a record 35 names that basically they've got to sort through and choose their particular candidate now we're hearing that there was

a brisk amount of activity as polls opened at 7 o'clock this morning but the lection authorities have extended by an hour the period that voters have to cast their ballot because obviously with such a long list of names that the logical issues where voters have to sort out pick the right candidate and the entire process of casting that ballot is expected to take longer than usual and even though we have $35.00 contenders in the fray it's actually down to 2 key players go to harvard rajapaksa the former defense secretary and subject the minister of housing the son of former president promising help for people there are certain things that have come to the fore that they say is important in choosing their next leader. building up this country's what's important for me stop the corruption stop the drugs and take the country forward

it's been a relatively peaceful election but we are hearing reports that there have been some incidents the police has confirmed that a number of buses carrying muslim voters to polling stations in manama which is in the northwestern part of the country was polluted with stones there was also reports that gunfire was directed at some of these buses there are a few reports of sort of coersion pressure on certain voters to vote either way so these are things that we're hearing but obviously the day has a few was to go ahead of polling time and sri lankans are waiting with bated breath to find out who their next leader will be. 2 people have been killed and more than a dozen were injured in a bomb attack in baghdad an explosive device placed in the 3rd car detonated on friday evening security forces say it happens near teria square a focal point for the protests that have gripped the iraqi capital for now more

than a month and at least 2 people were killed and dozens injured as security forces fired live rounds and during anti-government demonstrations on friday iraq's top share leader grand ayatollah ali al sistani called for calm in his weekly 7 protesters are angry about widespread corruption unemployment and poor basic services while security forces in bolivia have shot and killed 5 protesters there and the town of secada. it's the single most violent incident since president evo morales resigned earlier this week and interim government has taken charge but rallies calling for a democratic transition of power have continued friday's killings bring the death toll from bolivia's protests to 15 trees a boat has more from the palace. once again clashes in the center of all of us. are supporters of libya's former president who will more or less try to make it to the presidential palace nobody could have to see some member of the

a mighty indigenous community he says he wants democracy back in the more somebody that both we only have these chin straps and sticks we don't have weapons but we will defend ourselves but we have our hearts in the right place and we want to defend democracy. even though some protests are violence people want to gather peacefully to demand elections but the situation is so tense that even journalists have become a target i was just only tear gas by the police on purpose this is what's happening in the middle of a plateau where people have been protesting peacefully a police officer just threw tear gas on my eyes many of those who protest i'm not happy with the interim president is anyone yes who they say does not represent them a series of tweets posted by her and very fired by news organizations in the past have offended the indigenous majority here. she took office without consent if it's not even the me what the military to come and call for elections the armed forces

are also trying to quell the protests they're carrying the indigenous woodpile a flag which for many is more important than the national one bolivia's interim administration has made a foreign policy shift and ask venezuelan and cuban officials to leave the country they say they have been organizing unrest in the wake of the resignation of former president evo morales. these people were arrested for possessing firearms without a license they are foreigners they're venezuelans libyans are clearly concerned because there are these types of groups looking to destabilize a government that has been legally established which is headed by president janine . protesters from the city of cochabamba have been trying to reach the capital. videos on social media show that several people have been killed in clashes with the military and the police the videos could not be independently verified by al jazeera and then from mexico it will more or less said new elections are the only

way to calm the situation down. here for the sake of democracy if the interim government of bolivia doesn't want me to take i have no problem not taking person new elections i just wonder why there is so much fear of evil but i'm willing to sit priorities and willing to bring peace to. but there are questions over whether his party will be allowed to run because it's been accused of committing fraud bolivia desperately needs men in full negotiations that would allow elections to take place soon as many believe only an elected president will be able to take the country forward that he said well i'll just pass. all politicians in chile have agreed on a plan there that will pave the way for a referendum on a new constitution the vote is aimed at pacifying anti-government protesters have been out on the streets there for weeks in america at a new scene has more from the capital. less than 24 hours ago chile's rival political parties finally arrived at what many call as stark agreement to redraft

a constitution that will replace the one that is a hangover from that the regime dictatorship it had been a key demand of protest years and yet as you can see people are still back on the streets. and there are many reasons 1st and foremost they say that urgent reforms in health education pensions and better salaries can't await the estimated 2 years that it would take to rewrite a constitution. for example pension is i live on $200.00 a month i need to buy medicine and food but who cares the government is heartless. others say they simply don't trust their politicians and want to see the small print of the deal but the biggest complaint has to do with the agreement that would require an article of the constitution to be approved by 2 thirds of the delegates many say that would continue to give the wealthy minorities too much power but it looks as if it's excessive 2 thirds is the same limit that we have under the

current constitution put there to ensure necessary reforms don't pass the government hired hope that by caving into demands for a new constitution the under arrest or at least the large number of protests on the streets would diminish and while some do say that it's a positive step that does require compromise most of the people here believe it's just simply not enough. south african airways are on strike demanding higher wages and protesting against job cuts the stoppage has forced the struggling state and carrier to cancel dozens of its flights the airline says the walkout will cost it more than 3 $1000000.00 a day. germany etc step up its fight against climate change and the lower house of parliament has approved spending $60000000000.00 on new measures and introducing taxes for flights but the bill stonie the prey of a by the upper house john mccain has more from. getting this particular proposal through parliament is proving very difficult for the grand coalition because there

are many elements of what's been proposed which many people in parliament just don't agree with the upshot of this is that this is going to cost somewhere around $60000000000.00 in the next few years and it involves the government and missing that its previous aspirations its targets to reduce emissions are not going to hit the time frame they said that they would several years ago what's in this particular package well fines for companies that are particularly polluting in terms of c o 2 but incentives for those that are not the devil is in the details and those who oppose this particularly the opposition parties in the bundestag that's the lower house of parliament well they say on one side the greens say this is nowhere near protection enough for the environment whereas the free democrats and the liberal party well they say this is going to punish and penalize business but this is not

the end of the story because the green party will be able to challenge these proposals in the other house of parliament the blunders and there if they choose to they can block a great deal of this potential legislation the question for them will be as a green party that prioritizes protecting the environment are they prepared to vote down something which on the face of it is teared and geared towards protecting the environment that is for the future for now i'm going to merkel and her colleagues will be breathing a sigh of relief that at least in this house most of the proposals have been passed . now the chinese online shopping than anyone else in the wild in many remote areas people have embraced technology becoming online entrepreneurs turning once sleepy villages into e-commerce hubs out of there as foreign slowly has more from. eastern china in less than a decade legian home has transformed his life the foremost street snack vendor is

now c.e.o. of his own company it makes camping equipment and has an annual turnover of around $9000000.00 puts it down to hard work good luck and the rise in online shopping. as the internet develops our shopping habits change there are also more opportunities to make money we can do business from home whether you are one person 100 people were on the same platform everyone can find something assumes. his success attracted the attention of others in village who asked him to teach them how to start an e-commerce business at least 16 family that's about 10 percent of the population here are involved in e-commerce in one way or another mostly as middlemen selling products made by others. but some like lucian friend are more entrepreneurial he sells wood salvaged from old houses in the village.

doing e-commerce gives me more flexibility i have to work anyway either at the factory or at home i make about the same money but i have more freedom doing this i can take care of my children or go fishing if i like. across china there are thousands of villages like. rural communities whose fortunes have changed because of the internet. is owned by chinese multinational. and is china's largest digital platform it's where many economists businesses got their 1st start. villages where at least 10 percent of households are involved in e-commerce and that have a combined turnover of at least one and a half $1000000.00 a year are known as top villages. the government has been supportive of infrastructure like la just transport this villages mostly operate on

a free market. with some hope for the government. not everyone strikes it big in economists but some are showing that the internet and business savvy can be a potent combination florence li al-jazeera beige village john province china. these are the headlines there have been protests in iran after the government hiked fuel prices 50 percent internet access has been limited in some regions iran has some of the world's lowest petrol prices because of heavy subsidies. what is worrying to ordinary iranians is not just the price of fuel but the repercussions that this will have across the board meaning other goods will also be there prices

will increase it's an environment that is already very very fragile right now their country's economy because inflation's is just over 40 percent so many are very worried that this is just a sign of further things to come u.s. president donald trump has been accused of intimidation after he attacked a witness on twitter while she testified at his impeachment hearing marie advantage was removed from her post as u.s. ambassador to ukraine back in may and a u.s. embassy official in ukraine has confirmed to impeachment investigators that he overheard donald trump ask if ukraine its president had agreed to conduct investigations into his political rivals david holmes was speaking to a closed door hearing on friday about a phone call that he was present for between trump and the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. some of them. israel has carried out as strikes targeting hamas in response to a rocket attack from gaza 2 rockets were fired towards the southern israeli city of

beersheba overnight gunman and sri lanka have attacked buses carrying muslim voices but no casualties have been reported it happened shortly after polls opened in the country's presidential election former defense minister got him by rajapaksa and printed who's a current minister the 2 main candidates security forces and bolivia have shot and killed 5 protesters and the town of secada. it's the single most violent incident since president evo morales resigned earlier this week and interim government has taken charge but rallies calling for a democratic transition of power have continued friday's killings bring the death toll from bolivia's protests now to 15. well those are the headlines to join me for more news here on al-jazeera after the misnamed christ stay with us talk to no jews there are. they don't believe in the 2 state solution the day you still believe in the 2 state solution we listen to what i just said it was the darkest and would

never start a war i'm anti war we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter although to 0. the 1st time these are accusing saudi arabia of the spying aspect of their process of which you look. at our. country like. this or is it how they act that those were at this. critical of the saudi government. alone which are just britain europe the listening post here are some of the media stories we're covering this week anomie agents within a court case in the us threatens to expose the relationship between twitter and saudi arabia in taiwan they call them the red media news outlets with allegiances to beijing reporters in nigeria are being jailed for what prosecutors call cyber crimes and others.